The Illustrated Veterinary Guide - Softcover

Chris C. Pinney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071351868 ISBN 13: 9780071351867

Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill, 2000

Synopsis

Ultimate pet care and emergency first-aid guide

Ensure a long, healthy life for your pet with the advice packed into The Illustrated Veterinary Guide, Second Edition, by Chris C. Pinney, DVM. This encyclopedic guide covers everything you need to care for both common and exotic small animal pets, from proper housing and daily nurturing to emergency medicine. It even covers pets many people won't take to a vet, such as rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils and reptiles. If you learn only one thing from the book that avoids a costly veterinarian visit, the Guide will have paid for itself many times over! This new edition covers:

*10 steps for reducing the cost of owning a pet*

Alternate therapies, homeopathic care and natural remedies, and emergency first-aid

*New treatments for canine and feline heartworm, arthritis management, and flea control

*Pet nutrition

*Breeding

*Much more!

About this title

Review:

The Illustrated Veterinary Guide is a brilliantly conceived and expertly rendered reference. In one succinct volume, Chris C. Pinney, D.V.M., covers just about everything you might need to know about owning and caring for dogs, cats, and countless other animals. He covers birds, rabbits, and guinea pigs; hamsters, rats, and chinchillas; prairie dogs, hedgehogs, ferrets, and miniature potbellied pigs--plus reptiles, amphibians, tropical fish, and invertebrates. Whether your menagerie is restricted to Fluffy and Fido, or extends to tarantulas, hermit crabs, newts, and snakes, Pinney provides chapters on restraint, housing, nutrition, reproduction, preventive health care, and the diseases and disorders relevant to each species.

The dog and cat sections are naturally the most thorough, forming more than half the book. Pinney discusses how to choose the right dog and how to housebreak, socialize, and train him, then delves into preventive health care (nail trimming, weight control, and staving off parasites), elective surgeries (tail docking and ear trimming), and breeding your dog (from puberty and birthing to the care of neonatal puppies). Next come the infectious diseases (such as distemper, paravirus, kennel cough, and ringworm) and the parasitic diseases (such as scabies, tapeworm, and demodectic mange). Pinney's veterinary guide launches into all the internal systems (cardiovascular and respiratory, immune and digestive, urinary and reproductive, musculoskeletal, nervous, and endocrine) plus the doggy anatomy of skin and coat (integumentary system), eyes, and ears. Pinney explains the workings of each system, and the diseases that afflict them. There are few symptom charts, so you can't look up "vomiting" and see the associated diseases, though you can check the chapter on first aid for a quick guide to possible causes and seriousness. You can also identify the digestive system as the likely location, read about all the conditions and symptoms, and decide if tonsillitis, intestinal obstruction, or intussusception seems most likely.

The information provided by Pinney is all sound veterinary data, and the appendix on first aid for dogs and cats is excellent. But don't underestimate the value of the illustrations. An illustration of ringworm on a cat face is worth a thousand words when it comes to assessing if that's what your cat has, and mimicking the drawing of how to hold a pet snake is worlds easier than trying to apply written instructions to a restive boa. Some illustrations, such as the one of a cat in a thicket to illustrate feline nocturnal predatory habits, provide more eye candy than useful data. But there's no replacement for a picture of where to cut a bird's talon, how to restrain a lizard, or what a dog with impacted anal sacs looks like when it's scooting. If you like animals and want all your veterinary info in one place, Pinney's guide is a great one-volume resource. --Stephanie Gold

From the Publisher:

If you want to take good care of your pet, take a look at this A-to-Z quick answer book from popular veterinarian Chris Pinney, D.V.M. The Illustrated Veterinary Guide covers it all, from preventive health care, to diet, grooming, and training tips, to eye-opening facts that you would never have guessed about your pet (did you know that dogs might not be as color blind as people think?). Destined to put your mind at ease and give your pet a longer, happier, and healthier life, this book is the one for you---whether you own just one pet or a small zoo!

In the second edition you will find: * Super $$$ saving strategies for pet owners * New treatments for canine and feline heartworm disease, management of arthritis, flea control, pet nutrition, breeding---plus emergency first aid * Expanded sections on hedgehogs, chinchillas, prairie dogs, amphibians, and invertebrates * An informative introduction to holistic and alternative therapies for pets---homeopathic and "natural" pet care * A new format loaded with easy-to-read charts, tables, and illustrations Coverage includes: amphibians, birds, cats, chinchillas, dogs, fish, gerbils, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, hedgehogs, invertebrates, mice, pot-bellied pigs, prairie dogs, rabbits, rats, and reptiles.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0071351868
• ISBN 13: 9780071351867
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 934